fuel, fodder and fertility

beasl claims that gliricidia (and some other identified species) can contribute to the national economy in terms of fuel, fodder and fertility... with several trials done with the coconut research institute (cri), they claim that a gliricidia plantation of 1 hectare, with 8,000 trees, can have an annual yield of:

• fuel-wood in the form of sticks: 30 ton
• foliage: 8 ton

In Sri Lanka, Gliricidia leaves used as a green manure for coconut mean that the addition of inorganic fertiliser for nitrogen can be avoided, with 50 kg of leaves and tender shoots being the equivalent of 800 gm of urea. In a management system geared to the production of fuelwood and green manure, the production of the latter is of the order of 20-25 tonnes (fresh weight) of leaf material per ha. ⁶

1 ton of foliage is equivalent to 16 kg of urea... so 1 ha of gliricidia can provide 128kg of urea equivalent fertility...

i dont know much about cows other than they moo and give milk... oh also that they are tasty animals :) beasl claims that gliricidia leaves mixed with straw is a delicacy for cows... apparently they have research different recipes and found that this is the most nutritious... 24 ton of straw mixed with 8 ton of leaves from the 1 hectare plantation can feed 6 cows for the entire year... hmmm... and the cow apparently produces 6,750 liters of milk per year...

in comparision... the govt spends on imports of:

• Fossil Fuel Products: US $ 3000 million
• Urea fertilizer: US $ 160 million
• Milk Food: US $ 300 million

the beasl claims that It is currently possible to reduce this dependence to a large extent with attendant spin off benefits to may sectors of the economy... which i feel is not within their scope of operation because governance and policy making is decided by the citizens of our great republic... :)

the above data was sourced from govt institutions: central bank, ministry of science and technology, ministry of policy planning etc.

For the past many decades, a substantial part of the biomass came from agricultural residues such as rubber plantations, cinnamon crop, coconut plantations, homesteads, fuel wood plantations established by the Forest Departments and some of the tea plantations. A significant quantity also came from unsustainable forest clearings.

Recently (1999-2004), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in collaboration with the Forest Department, Coconut Research Institute (CRI) and the Land Use Policy Planning Division carried out field studies to determine the optimum parameters for Sustainable Short Rotation Coppicing Energy Plantations.

Twelve trial plots were established in degraded marginal lands in different agro-climatic locations in the country with different species of wood. Branches of these trees were harvested at varying time intervals.

Dendro for Industrial Heat Applications

The use of fuel wood as a substitute for petroleum (diesel, furnace oil or LP Gas) is economically very attractive. A tonne of furnace oil is marketed at Rs. 54,000. To replace this with wood we would require approximately 3 tonnes wood per kg of oil. Wood is marketed at Rs. 3, 000 per tonne. Hence 3 tonnes of wood would cost Rs. 9,000. Hence Rs. 9,000 worth of wood could replace Rs. 54,000 worth of furnace oil. The economic advantage is much higher if Dieseline or LP Gas is replaced by wood.

The US $ 200 Million currently spent on import of petroleum products for Industrial heat applications such as generation of steam in boilers or in dryers and kilns can be replaced immediately by the use of SRC wood such as Gliricidia. Some industries have already realized this benefit and are in the process of converting their factories. . In general the investment on the conversion can be recovered in a few months.

replacing diesel

energy calculation

• 1 liter of diesel = 4 kg of gliricidia biomass
• diesel burners have a combustion efficiency of about 85%
• dual fuel burners have a combustion efficiency of about 70%
• diesel has a heating value of 42 MJ/kg with a density of 0.851 kg/liter
• to produce 1MJ of heat 33 milliliters of diesel are required
• biomass gasifiers operate at 80% thermal efficiency
• biomass fuel-wood - gliricidia has a heating value of 13.5 MJ/kg (20% moisture)
• to produce 1MJ of heat 132 grams of gliricidia are required
• 1 liter of diesel can be replaced by 4 kg of gliricidia biomass

savings in energy cost

• 1 liter of diesel sells at rs 80
• 1 kg of gliricidia biomass sells at rs 7.25
• by switching from diesel to gliricidia biomass saves you rs 50.87 per liter of diesel
• 64% of your thermal energy cost can be reduced by switching from diesel to gliricidia biomass

replacing LPG

basic energy calculation

• 1 kg of LPG = 4 kg of gliricidia biomass
• LPG burners have a combustion efficiency of about 85%
• dual fuel burners have a combustion efficiency of about 70%
• LPG has a heating value of 45 MJ/kg
• to produce 1MJ of heat 26 kg of LPG are required
• biomass gasifiers operate at 80% thermal efficiency
• biomass fuel-wood - gliricidia has a heating value of 13.5 MJ/kg (20% moisture)
• to produce 1MJ of heat 132 grams of gliricidia are required
• 1 kg of LPG can be replaced by 4 kg of gliricidia biomass

savings in energy cost

• 1 kg of LPG sells at rs 130
• 1 kg of gliricidia biomass sells at rs 7.25
• by switching from LPG to gliricidia biomass saves you rs 100.65 per kg of LPG
• 77% of your thermal energy cost can be reduced by switching from LPG to gliricidia biomass

Electrical Power Generation

The use of dendro fuels such as baggase for power generation is as old as the sugar industry. The same technology and equipment can be used with other bio mass resources such as Gliricidia without any change. Even countries in the EU with inadequate bio mass resources are importing wood chips from Canada and palm shells from Indonesia for this purpose.

If 50% of the degraded marginal lands are converted into energy plantations we could generate 2000 MW of electricity with an annual out put of 14,000 GWh. This is borne out by the proven plant factor of greater than 80% in bio mass plants operating world over. In addition we could convert All the oil consuming (260,000 tonnes of oil equivalent per year) industries to biomass fired systems to generate the industrial heat energy requirements. If the entire degraded lands and other lands suitable for intercropping (as recommended by the CRI) are considered, the total potential would be more than double the above values.

Land available in Sri Lanka

• Total Land Area - 6,500,000 ha (100%)
• Natural forest - 1,678,000 ha (26%)
• Forest plantation - 81,000 ha (1%)
• Industrial plantations - 769,000 ha (12%)
• Paddy lands - 799,000 ha (12%)
• Sparsely used crop lands - 1,263,000 ha (20%)
• Range scrub land - 502,000 ha (8%)
• Other - 1,408,000 ha (21%)